Twenty years of CSU pay records show who gained and who paid
Executive pay, tuition, and management all grew faster than the raises negotiated for faculty. After California inflation, faculty pay went backward. The decision records below cover every Board of Trustees pay action for presidents, the chancellor, and the vice chancellors; the four findings tie those records to the faculty schedule, the budget, and what students pay.
Four findings
- −11%Chancellor: +23%
After inflation, faculty pay is down 11%. The chancellor’s is up 23%.
An assistant professor hired in 2006–07 at $85,000, receiving only the raises negotiated for all faculty, earns $129,544 today. Matching 2006–07 buying power would take about $145,700, so the gap is roughly $16,150 a year, the widest in twenty years.
See the inflation-adjusted analysis - +$418,000Professor: +$44,544
The chancellor’s raise alone is worth more than three faculty salaries.
The chancellor’s base salary rose from $377,000 to $795,000 over twenty fiscal years, mostly through two appointments that jumped pay by 31% and 27%. The chancellor now earns 6.1 times the modeled professor, up from 4.4.
See the year-by-year comparison - +10%Instructional faculty: −2%
Managers keep growing. Faculty don’t.
From fall 2018 to fall 2025, the CSU added 441 executives and managers and ended with 617 fewer instructional faculty. Managers are 7.6% of employees and 16.5% of salary spending. The State Auditor found the same pattern a decade earlier and said campuses often could not justify the hires.
See the staffing and audit records - +171%Faculty raises: +52%
Tuition rose 171%. Faculty raises added 52%.
Full-time resident tuition went from $2,520 to $6,838 and is set to rise 6% a year through 2028–29. Faculty have had no general raise since July 2024. One year of new tuition revenue equals the cost of about a 6.5% faculty raise.
See tuition against faculty pay
Where things stand
Faculty bargaining is at impasse. The CSU has offered a one-time 3% payment for 2025–26 and a 3% raise for 2026–27 that would not be retroactive. Factfinding is scheduled for November 2026, and faculty are voting on strike authorization through November 19. These pages will be updated as that process concludes.
The decision records
Campus president pay, 2006–2026
Every appointment, systemwide adjustment, and equity action found in the record, year by year, with the lowest and highest base salary at five-year marks and a chart of the range.
OpenChancellor and vice chancellor pay, 2006–2026
Reed to García: the chancellor's base salary at each Board decision, housing and deferred compensation, the vice chancellor actions, and a chart of the increase.
OpenTwenty years of the faculty salary schedule
Assistant Professor/Lecturer B and Lecturer A ranges at every schedule since 2005; enter a starting salary and compound the contract raises against U.S. and California inflation.
OpenCSU Says Faculty Pay Is Competitive. The Public Still Cannot Audit the Model.
The faculty side of the same compensation study program.
ReadMore from the records
Faculty share of the budget
About 23 cents of each core dollar goes to faculty salaries, flat since 2017–18 after a decade of falling behind.
OpenWhat students pay at CSUDH
Campus fees tripled since 2010–11 and jumped 33% this year. On-campus housing outran inflation.
OpenThree questions for the trustees
What the record shows, what the CSU has said, and what to ask for, with ready-to-read statements for public comment.
OpenPublic records requests
Every request this site has filed, with dates, deadlines, and responses, plus the reusable request packet on management position justifications.
OpenDownload the data
Every chart on these pages comes from a CSV you can check and reuse.
OpenHow to read these numbers
The faculty figures follow a modeled assistant professor who receives only the general raises negotiated for all faculty, with no promotions or service steps. Real faculty careers usually earn more; the model isolates what the CSU chose to give everyone. Executive figures are base salary only, without housing, car, or deferred compensation. Each page states its sources in APA format and flags anything derived, provisional, or unresolved.
Last updated November 2, 2026. Disclosure: the author is a CSU faculty member and a member of the California Faculty Association. CSU Watch is an independent publication.